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MCP-TUI

Answer MCP elicitation and sampling requests

A tool can stop and ask: elicitation asks the user for structured input, sampling asks the client’s model to write something. On 2026-07-28 the tool answers with input requests and the client retries with the answers (SEP-2322); on 2025-11-25 the server sends elicitation/create or sampling/createMessage to the client directly. mcp-tui handles both.

Answer elicitation and sampling requests. When a tool needs input mid-call, mcp-tui shows the server's form or its sampling request, interactively in the TUI or from stub flags in the CLI.

In the TUI

Section titled “In the TUI”

When a request arrives, mcp-tui opens a screen for it:

  • Elicitation: a form built from the requested schema. Fill it and accept, or decline or cancel. URL-mode elicitation shows the URL and its host, and opens nothing by itself.
  • Sampling: the messages the server wants completed, with a reply to write or approve.

The tool call resumes once you answer, and the result lists the input rounds it took.

In the CLI

Section titled “In the CLI”

Scripts answer with stubs:

Terminal window
mcp-tui --url http://127.0.0.1:8931/mcp tool call schedule_callback ticket_id=T-1041 \
  --elicit-stub '{"time":"2026-10-02T15:00:00Z"}'


mcp-tui --url http://127.0.0.1:8931/mcp tool call draft_reply ticket_id=T-1042 \
  --sampling-stub "Thanks for the report, we're on it."

--elicit-stub-file and --sampling-stub-file read the reply from a file; --sampling-tool-use answers with a tool_use block. Sampling (with roots and logging) is deprecated as of 2026-07-28 (SEP-2577), and mcp-tui marks it so; elicitation is not. See Client features.